Indian diaspora hit the headlines, this time for their crime stories

Indian diaspora hit the headlines, this time for their crime stories
KUHU SINGH & FAISAL KUTTY

PHOENIX, ARIZONA/TORONTO, OCTOBER 7: For Indians in Silicon Valley, a community used to success stories, it was unusual news. More than 70 police officers were looking for Balvinder Singh Johal, 35. The minimum-security inmate, held without bail for assaulting a San Jose police officer, had escaped from the court where he was appearing on drug charges. By the time he was flushed out by a canine team on the banks of the River Guadalupe after a three-and-a-half hour manhunt, Johal had done enough to dent the south Asian stereotype of a model minority.

That was on June 20. In the past four months, there have been a spurt of incidents across North America which showed the South Asian integration into the mainstream was complete. Crime, now, was no exception.

Last month, Indo-Canadian dentist Dr Alpna Patel was convicted of man slaughter for killing her husband in Baltimore, Maryland. Around the same time, a court in Canada heard evidence in two gruesome murder trials. In Hamilton, a court heard the trial of multiple murders and serial marriages of Sukhwinder Singh Dhillon. Another court in Western Canada, home to one of the earliest South Asian immigrant communities, began hearing a case against three Indo-Canadians for the April 1998 murder of Baljit Kondolay, 37, in front of her British Columbia home. Charged are her husband, Ajit Grewal, Ajit's son from an earlier marriage Sukhjit, and Sukhjit's friend Sandeep Toor.

While circumstances surrounding Dr. Patel's conviction involve domestic dispute, the two Canadian trials centre on life insurance proceeds.

In the US too, there were several headlines. Earlier this year, at a Federal District court in Frenso, Kamal Lal, a property owner, was accused of trading sex with homeless women in return for rental discounts in 1997. Lal, agreed to pay a $195,000 settlement. In Los Angeles, an Indian mother tried to drown herself and her three children after her husband threatened to leave them. A Berkley restaurant and property owner, Bali Reddy, was arrested by the INS for bringing women from India on fake visas and keeping them as sex slaves in Bay area.

The media attention given to these and other crimes in the South-Asian community may give a skewed picture of the community, fear community leaders. ``Such crimes are not unheard of, but these incidents are isolated,'' says Amar Ery, president of the Arya Samaj in Toronto. ``They are not exclusive to the South-Asian community.''

Ery believes that increasing pressures -- financial, family and social -- are causing the violence. ``Support from extended family is missing,'' he believes.

According to Vivek Mittal, an engineering consultant and an alumnus of New Delhi's School of Planning and Architecture, the trend seems to be fairly recent and has to do a lot with cultural upbringing. ``Some years ago, it was unthinkable for Indians to even think about breaking the law. But it now seems that when you don't have your culture influencing you, you tend to see things around you and think, it's OK to break the law.''

Somnath Sen, a film director, says: ``I'm not sure if crime has increased. It's probably the same as (committed by) other immigrant communities. However, crime in our community is definitely more visible today. Indian Americans are getting more visible, and anything that happens in the community also gets more visibility.''

As the number of South Asians increases in Canada and the U.S., the prevalence of such acts will only increase. ``South Asian gangs - Punjabis, Tamils, Gujaratis and others -- are prevalent in high schools,'' says Shadia Yousuf, 16, a student at Pearson Collegiate in Toronto. Schools with a disproportionately large South Asian community are home to many disputes between gangs, including stabbing and shootings. Though, Shadia notes that the problem is not exclusive to South Asians. ``Other kids are also into gangs.''

Indians, America's most wanted

* Ninderjit Singh Soos (Canada). Wanted for murder of ex-girlfriend Poonam Randhawa on January 26. Has been featured in America's Most Wanted. On the run.

* Kinnari Sutariya (USA). Wanted in husband's murder on January 22 in Michigan, a week after they were married. The 20-year-old has started serving a minimum 11 year prison term.

* Vincent Bal (USA). Charged with stabbing three people outside a birthday party. Bal, 19, had gatecrashed the party with three others and was kicked out. The four men returned two hours later. Bal stabbed one man in an arm, another in the neck and a third in the back. One of them tried to flee, and knocked down Andre Dial, 16, a cousin of the birthday boy.